mid-13c., from Medieval Latin elixir "philosopher's stone," believed by alchemists to transmute baser metals into gold and/or to cure diseases and prolong life, from Arabic al-iksir, probably from late Greek xerion "powder for drying wounds," from xeros "dry" (see xerasia). General sense of "strong tonic" is 1590s; used for quack medicines from at least 1630s.